While UW saw the antics of Team Rhino during this year’s Federation of Students elections, more serious issues and allegations have arisen from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) elections.
Following the SFUO’s February 15-17 elections, the candidate with the most votes in the VP-Finance race, Tristan Denommé, was disqualified for breaking campaigning rules. The electoral committee found Denommé guilty of posting posters in unauthorized locations, publishing a false statement, and several other minor offences as well as failing to respond to these charges. With a low voter turnout, talk of tampering and election rigging began almost immediately. The winner of the VP-Finance race was declared to be Sarah Jayne King, who was the only other candidate in the race.
The uOttawa student community is now up in arms over the results of the elections. Many students are arguing that there should either be a ratification process or a by-election to fill the VP-Finance position. The SFUO constitution states that during the elections process, candidates must either win the election or be ratified to win a position.
During the elections, some uOttawa students set up a website (www.uoleaks.com) for people to report election rule violations anonymously. Now after the elections, the site continues to gather information on the proceedings of the SFUO, particularly those relating to Denommé’s appeal of his disqualification. uoLeaks is rife with allegations of questionable conduct from the SFUO executives.
With the Board of Advisors upholding the disqualification of Denommé, Denommé’s supporters resorted to staging a sit-in protest in the SFUO office. Several other protests against the SFUO’s decision have also taken place, as well as counter-protests against the supporters of Denommé.
Another consequence of the SFUO elections debacle is that several faculty student societies have decided that the SFUO is no longer capable of running its own elections properly and following its own policies. The uOttawa Engineering Student Society is planning a referendum to separate from their student federation, and they have the support of their faculty. Other societies are also discussing the possibility of leaving the SFUO.
The most unfortunate outcome of this situation is that it has dissuaded many younger students from participating in student life activities. Student federations and societies should aim to improve the quality of student life rather than to be a reason for concern and protest. Given the current state of animosity between certain parties on the uOttawa campus, it seems like the fundamental goal of improving student life has been thrown to the side amongst all the arguments.
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